openinverter forum

Having seen so may people struggling with putting together the hardware and power electronics for a DC motor controller I decided to whip up a simple board to utilise the cheap and plentiful Gen 2 Prius inverter as the power stage for a DC motor controller. You get the added bonus of a DC DC converter built in and possibilty of using the boost converter for battery charging at some future stage.

https://github.com/damienmaguire/Prius- ... Controller

I'll post up a video tutorial as soon as the boards arrive.

My white arrow is in need of this board. Will we be able to use mg1 in parallel with mg2? Will I need two of these boards or can I split the pwm output to both inverters? Mg2 maxes out with 370 amps and mg1 maxes out with about 230 amps to the one DC motor. Total 600 amps. I'm going to worry about breaking the 318i drive train.
Waiting for the boards and dc tutorial.
Thanks Damien
Eric Soneson & White Arrow

Each phase of mg2 trips at 370 amps. Remember there are three phases:)

Oops, I see on the schematic there are pwm outs for mg1 and mg2, so one board! Can't wait, ordering parts today.
Thank you Damien.

Just checking: One Prius Gen2 Inverter + one Prius Gen2 DC Motor Controller + instructions = Control of Current to DC Motor

Or do I also need the Prius Gen2 AC Motor Controller?

I just received a Chevy Volt Battery from 2017 model with 17K miles. Plan is to take the 355 Volt pack and split it into two equal packs to halve the volts and keep full amp-hrs.

I have all the components for the DC Motor Controller. Is it a safe bet to have boards made from the gbr files and build the controller? OR should I wait for any changes to the board based on your testing with the Red Arrow? Hoping the instruction video is making progress.

I installed the heating element for cabin heat. Fortunately for you the swap through the glove box was easy. My left hand drive 1995 318i has the element behind the dash behind the steel reinforcements and behind heater box cover. Fortunately I have completed this task. So far, the most work for any one element of this conversion.

Would love to control some amps from my new pack to my 9 inch Netgain motor.

Again, love the work you are doing on this and all your other projects.
Patience is a virtue.

Eric Soneson
1995 318i "White Arrow" conversion.

One Prius Gen2 Inverter + one Prius Gen2 DC Motor Controller + instructions = Control of Current to DC Motor

correct:)

I know you are busy and I am sure I am not the only one interested in this board. So, were you able to populate and test this board?
Had to ask.

Eric Soneson & The White Arrow.

Damien,
I heard you mention Gen 2 DC controller and Gen 2 charger boards in your latest video.
Is it possible to have a populated Gen 2 DC controller board available on your web shop? Might be a nice simple test case for this new found process you came across.
Next, I should hope for a charger board for the Gen 2. Or better yet, a charger and DC controller in one pcb design.
I would buy one in an instant and be a test case. One board or two, I'm in!
Looking forward to bringing my Gen 2 Prius controller to life in support of my 9 inch DC motor in the 1995 White Arrow. Any chance this will happen?

Money and time:)

esoneson wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:30 am Damien,
I heard you mention Gen 2 DC controller and Gen 2 charger boards in your latest video.
Is it possible to have a populated Gen 2 DC controller board available on your web shop? Might be a nice simple test case for this new found process you came across.
Next, I should hope for a charger board for the Gen 2. Or better yet, a charger and DC controller in one pcb design.
I would buy one in an instant and be a test case. One board or two, I'm in!
Looking forward to bringing my Gen 2 Prius controller to life in support of my 9 inch DC motor in the 1995 White Arrow. Any chance this will happen?

I am lacking Gen 2 inverter, otherwise i dont see a problem. I am that close to have a full PID feedback loop charger in Gen 3 case. After that i will add either single Johannes interface or Lebowski interface to MG2 section. MG1 will serve as a rectifier for AC. Thats the plan.

People who will benefit most are those with battery packs in range of 200Vdc - 300Vdc. They can also directly use 1KW 12V regulator inside inverter.
I can make up to 300Vdc buck charging with only single phase AC.

I got PCBs made from Damien's Prius Gen 2 DC pwm design. I populated the components and checked all connections.
I have all inputs: 12v, gnd, accelerator: 5v, signal, gnd, reverse light input, brake lights input.
Now I need to connect MG1 pwm output, MG2 pwm output and their grounds to the Prius Gen 2 inverter. I have seen Damien's Prius 2 testing videos. He mentions grounding wire for MG1 and MG2 to activate, but I don't know which wires they are. Also there is a reset wire for when Toyota shuts down the inverter (too many amps).
Can someone point me to a schematic or pictures to identify where these leads are located?

Here is my Prius Gen 2 DC controller:

Thank your SciroccoEV!!
That info is perfect and complete. Much appreciated. Now back to my BMW 318i 'White Arrow" wiring tasks.
Eric

I'm interested in this, but my ignorance is showing here. How does the PWM split between all the IGBT's? Same question for the current sensors. I'd be wanting to run this in a Honda IMA inverter.

On this subject I have redesigned this board to utilise JLCPCB parts and have a bunch of ten on the way fully populated bar the screw connector. Once received I will do a video showing how it all wires up.

As if by magic:)

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 2:42 pmAs if by magic:)

...

Reveal us your JLPCB teleportation spell wizard!

I'll spread the news, people were asking about this on DIYEV literally yesterday.

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 2:42 pm As if by magic:)

Awesome! Let us know when they are available for sale, my Gen2 inverter arrived yesterday and I'm dying to get playing with it.

Of course I wait until 10 minutes after ordering 3 blue pills before reading this.
Doh!

So will this board have the same features as Johannas Board in the other thread here?

Alibro wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 7:42 pm this board have the same features as Johannas Board in the other thread here?

Did you notice the DC bit in the thread title?

SciroccoEV wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 8:58 pm

Alibro wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 7:42 pm this board have the same features as Johannas Board in the other thread here?

Did you notice the DC bit in the thread title?

Errrmmmm, I think I must have missed that bit. LOL

esoneson wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:30 am Damien,
I heard you mention Gen 2 DC controller and Gen 2 charger boards in your latest video.
Is it possible to have a populated Gen 2 DC controller board available on your web shop? Might be a nice simple test case for this new found process you came across.
Next, I should hope for a charger board for the Gen 2. Or better yet, a charger and DC controller in one pcb design.
I would buy one in an instant and be a test case. One board or two, I'm in!
Looking forward to bringing my Gen 2 Prius controller to life in support of my 9 inch DC motor in the 1995 White Arrow. Any chance this will happen?

Hello! I am also very interested in operating and charging in one inverter!

I need a little help getting my Prius Gen 2 inverter to come alive.

Here is what I have:
167 volt lithium pack
HV control: 2 contactors for bat neg and 2 contactors for bat positive
Bleeder resistor connected between bat neg and controller neg

All three Prius inverter MG1 and MG2 output phases connected to DC Motor Positive.
Motor Negative connected to Prius Inverter negative and battery negative.

Accelerator control is damien Prius DC motor controller:
12v in, 5 volt in, throttle input, reverse input, brake input
MG1 pwm signal output, MG2 pwm signal output and grounds

When ignition is turned on, Positive contactors are closed. Timer waits 7 seconds before negative contactor closes.
At the same time 12 volt + 5 volt to accelerator control is provided. And 12 volts is supplied to
Prius inverter through the 2 wire connector positive and pin 1 on the C5 connector terminal (for DC-DC converter).

Pins 4,5 and 6 on the 32 pin connector on Prius Controller are all connected to the MG1 pwm signal output on Damien
Prius DC controller.
Pins 9,10,11 are all connected to the MG2 pwm signal output on Damien Prius DC controller.
Pin 16 (inverter ground) connected to chassis ground.

When all this takes place I get:
0 volts out of the Battery + connection (DC-DC connector to battery on the wide blade)
167 volts on the bus bars in the inverter
and no reaction to accelerator.
output from accelerator is 4.86 volts with pedal fully pressed, .68 volts at rest
PWM1 and PWM2 output from Damien prius DC Controller does vary with change in accelerator position.

I recall a video from zookeeper JohnG where he demonstrated the order of the power up sequence, but I can't find that one.

Can someone tell me how to get the Prius controller to come alive?
What magical incantation is necessary?
I'm sooooo close to moving this BMW 318i "White Arrow" under it's own power I can taste it.

I need some guidance from a kind sole.

Thank you.

MSDN & GSDN, motor and generator shutdown, need to be high (+12v).

I have a slightly related question about DC controllers, considering using the gen2 I have on hand for that purpose.
Is it better to run as a high side or low side switch? If I'm using those terms correctly. Should the other pole of the motor be connected to ground or to B+?
Also thinking about current control; does that require lots of PID stuffs or can a simple ramp up/ramp down suffice? (assuming a fast current sensor of course).
Thanks!
-Isaac

WAIT! I too build one of Damiens DC control boards and I've cooked 2 inverters already.... the first time I thought maybe it was something I did so I put another inverter in and took it around the block, lasted about 1/2 mile before the inverter shutdown and would not restart. After getting it home and taking some things apart it looks like one of the low side switches on mg2 is permanently shorted..... I had all three phases of mg2 bridged and connected to motor positive, motor negative connected to inverter negative. mg1 was setup for mains charging. I found some old write ups from a guy who built a very similar setup. he blew a phase in his inverter too. Eventually he connected motor positive to one phase and motor negative to another phase, centered the pwms at 50% and drove them apart to impart a voltage across the motor, apparently no more magic smoke after this....
My thought is to bridge all three phases of mg2 and plug in motor positive, then motor negative to all three bridged phases of mg1, send one pwm signal to mg2 and the other to mg1...... should still allow about 700-800 amps before tripping overcurrent I think?

https://nicjam.es/projects/derptruck/part_2/

I've picked up a third gen 2 inverter and a gen 3 inverter. looks like we will need a different control board though.